


Of Field Trips and Family Portraits

by elandhop



Series: Stay [7]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, F/M, Field Trip, Fluff, Wayhaught - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 08:05:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15769989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elandhop/pseuds/elandhop
Summary: Nicole studies the drawing and her face lights up.“Waverly, baby. This is great! She sees us as her family.”Waverly gives a little shrug. She hadn’t thought about that aspect of Ariel’s drawing.“And look! Doc has a little Stetson! I think she even got your bangs right!”Or,Waverly and Nicole's foster daughter draws a picture of her family.





	Of Field Trips and Family Portraits

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you all for reading! I hope you are enjoying this series. If you have any prompts for this story, please send them my way. 
> 
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/themilIsisters  
> Tumblr:http://elandhop.tumblr.com/

**Field Trip**                       

It starts with a five-year-old in a lime green puffy jacket, three sizes too big for her. The jacket had been Alice’s last winter, but according to Wynonna, she’d been growing like a weed and the coat made the perfect hand-me-down.

“Oooommph!”

“Don’t _push her,_ Tommy! Let her in front!” Five-year-old Alice Earp crosses her arms, and allows for her best friend in the entire world to walk in front of her, and crouch down in front of the pen of potbelly pigs. Alice ducks down next to Ariel and puts an arm around her.

“See how cute they are, Aree?” She points to a tiny one. “That one looks like George!”

Ariel smiles up at her cousin as she points to a slightly smaller pig nearby.

“That one Peppa, Al.”

“Okay girls. Let Jackson and Tommy get up close.” Waverly rubs her temple and holds out hand sanitizer for her niece and foster daughter as they toddle toward her, Alice waiting for Ariel as she trudges forward with her walker. The girls take the sanitizer and flick it at each other.

“Hey! Be nice to each other! ” Wynonna stumbles backward, and Doc steadies her. She reaches into her coat pocket, and grabs a water bottle, chugging it.

“Want some?”

“You’re mighty sure that’s water Ms. Earp?” Doc tips his hat forward, and Wynonna can see a smile peeking out from under his mustache.

“Of course it’s water, Doc. Do you really think I’d bring alcohol on a Kindergarten field trip?”

Doc shrugs, and Wynonna slaps his ass.  

Nicole rolls her eyes and puts an arm around Waverly. She loves Wynonna to death, but wouldn’t put anything past her.

“How much longer is this trip?” Nicole’s shivering, and she can’t believe they’re out on a farm in the middle of February. Waverly gives her girlfriend a _look_ and straightens her earmuffs _._

“We’re supposed to be _bonding_ with Ariel, Nicole.”

“Baby. I love doing stuff with Ariel. Although, I would love it more if we weren’t in _negative_ degrees weather doing it.” She nuzzles her girlfriend’s cheek with her nose.

Waverly makes a face, pulls away, and goes over to look at the pigs.

Wynonna rests her head on Doc’s chest and wraps her arms around him.

“It is too damn cold to be on this trip today, Doc.”

He rubs her back and pushes her hair out of her face.

“Tonight I will make us some Hot Cocoa.”

Wynonna smirks and pokes his belly.

“As long as you don’t get marshmallow all up in your mustache.”

“That _has_ been a problem in the past, Ms. Earp.”

Wynonna kisses him on the cheek.

“I’m sure you’ll think of another way to keep me warm tonight.”

 

* * *

 

Waverly crouches down next to Ariel.

“Did you like the piggies?”

Ariel puts her gloved palm into a fist and moves it up and down.

_Yes._

Waverly makes a _W_ with her three middle fingers and holds them up as she points to herself.

“I like them too, so does your CoCo.” Waverly makes a “C” with her hand and taps the pad of her thumb with the rest of her fingers to make an “O” as she points to Nicole. 

 “They got curly tails!” Alice jumps up and down and throws her arms up in the air. She runs toward Wynonna.

“Can we get one, My Nonna? Can we get a piggy?” Wynonna chuckles and takes her daughter’s face between her gloved hands.

“Hell- _Heck_ -No baby. We wouldn’t have room for one!” Wynonna squishes Alice’s cheeks and places a kiss on each one.

Next up are the baby goats. As they enter the pen, Nicole lifts Ariel up out of her walker and places her on her hip. Ariel puts her arms around Nicole’s neck.

“Scary.” Ariel peeks down at the goats who have gathered around her classmates.

“Look how little they are, Princess. They’re just babies. They don’t bite.” She kisses her daughter on the red curls popping out of her matching green hat.

“ _Nicole_ put her down. She can walk by herself.” Waverly looks at Nicole pointedly, takes Ariel from her arms and places her feet first in the snow. Ariel slumps to the ground, not quite able to find her balance in her big snow boots.

 Waverly tries to pull her tiny body up to a standing position, but can’t do it.

Nicole sighs and glances at Waverly, who looks defeated.

“Baby, that’s why I lifted her up in the first place.”

“She can do it, though! I know she can! Show CoCo and me how you walk.”

Ariel follows her CoCo and Wavy’s eyes, back and forth. _Mad._

“Up please.” She reaches her tiny arms out, and Nicole scoops her up, cradling her head and peppering kisses all over her Knit hat.

Waverly’s chin wobbles.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, across the pen, Doc and Wynonna are tossing his beloved  Stetson back and forth, under the watchful eye of three five-year-olds who are giggling, and Pygmy goats who are running back and forth.

Waverly watches Nicole, holding their daughter, and pointing to the goats, making silly faces. Alice runs over to her Auntie and holds up a tiny goat the best she can so her cousin can pet one.

Nicole has absolutely no clue that something is terribly wrong.

Wynonna catches Doc’s Stetson and waves it in the air, victoriously.

“Lunchtime, kids!”

The baby goats run toward her, as she tosses the hat back toward its owner. Doc’s catch is too late because the goats have got it and the kids are giggling maniacally.

“I _know_ you did not just feed my Stetson to a bunch of baby g-”

“Revenge is sweet, Doc _tor_ Hollid-”

As if on cue, a pygmy goat comes over to Doc, and deposits his gooey, slimy Stetson in front of him. The goat can’t be more than a foot in length and height, and it has soft brown fur and black eyes. As Doc leans down to pet the goat, he has a smile on his face. He lifts the goat in his arms, and Wynonna can’t believe her eyes.

Doc Holliday is _cuddling_ a goat.

It’s adorable.

She can’t help but wonder if this is what it would have been like to see him cuddle Alice as a baby. Wynonna squints, as a single tear falls down her face. She did _not_ just compare her daughter to a goat.

_Shit._ She’s not soft. Okay. She is a little bit. Suddenly, she feels lightheaded and woozy and takes a swig of water. Wynonna shakes it off and pulls out her phone, smiling at her lock screen picture of Doc and Alice sticking their tongues out.

“Smile.”

“Wynonna…this is quite possibly the cutest animal I have laid my eyes on in-”

Wynonna snaps picture after picture, even as the goat decides to take a shit in her boyfr-Doc’s arms. Luckily, Doc is spared, as the goat hops out of his arms to resume its business.

Wynonna walks over to Waverly and notices her baby sister’s sour face.

“What’s wrong, Baby Girl? You’ve been on edge all day.”

Waverly frowns.

“I have _not._ I’m just freezing.”

Wynonna puts her gloved hand on Waverly’s shoulder.

“I know something’s wrong. I’m not going to get into it _now_ , but you’d better tell one of us when we get home.”

Waverly rolls her eyes and scoffs.

“I’m _fine,_ Wynonna. Don’t worry.”

“You’ve been snapping at Nicole this entire trip, did something happen between you two?”

Waverly shakes her head and tries to give her big sister a convincing smile.

“It’s nothing, Wynonna.”

“Okay. Just wanted to check on you.”

Waverly notices that Wynonna is awfully pale. She puts the back of her hand on Wynonna’s forehead.

“Thanks. Are you feeling alright, Wynonna? You’re clammy.”

Wynonna shrugs.

“I’ll be okay.”

Waverly watches Nicole, her sweetie pie take the goat from Alice’s arms and let it lick their little girl’s face. She sees Ariel squeal in delight and almost runs over with the hand sanitizer.

As if she can read her girlfriend’s thoughts, Nicole pulls the sanitizer out of her bag and spreads a copious amount onto both Alice and Ariel’s hands.

Ariel toddles out of the pen, Nicole holding one hand, Alice the other.

“You were right baby. She could do it!”

Ariel makes a V with her fingers, taps her chin, and then her forehead.

“Goat?” Nicole mimics the sign, and Ariel nods.

“That’s the sign for a goatie-goat, CoCo.”

Nicole understands that Ariel gets anxious in public, and using sign language is kind of like a secret code between their little family. More than anything, she’s glad that Ariel feels comfortable enough to speak to them, whatever way she chooses too.

Waverly gives a weak grin, and does the sign for a letter T, thumb between her index and pointer fingers, and shakes her hand back and forth.

“I’m going to run to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” Nicole nods.

“Okay, baby. We’ll probably head over to the bunnies.”

Waverly nods and briskly walks toward the bathroom. Maybe she’ll feel better if she gets a chance to clear her head without five-year-olds everywhere.

* * *

 

She closes the stall and pulls out of the piece of paper from her purse. Everything had been _fine_ until this morning. Maybe she shouldn’t have sat next to Ariel’s teacher, Mrs. Lovejoy on the bus. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have had to deal with _this_ until after the trip. Now it’s wagering on her mind, and she can’t shake it.

More than anything, she doesn’t want Nicole to _worry_ about this like she is worried about it at the moment.

It can’t be the worst thing in the world, right? It’s only natural.

There are far worse things that she could have drawn.

Waverly unfolds the pink piece of construction paper she received on the bus, and smiles when she sees the crayon-drawn A R I E L scattered across the top of the page. The “R” is backward, and the E is missing the line in the middle.

There are four big circles drawn on the paper in purple crayon. Three of them have tiny stick dresses, and one has what Waverly can only guess is a Stetson atop its head.

One of the circles with the tiny stick dresses has a big smile and brown eyes. Brown lines flow down from the top of her head. _Me_ she thinks. A big “WVY” is over the figure’s head.

The circle next to it in the dress also has a big smile and brown eyes but has shorter red lines coming down from her head. A “CO” for CoCo is over the figure’s head _Nicole._

The circle next to Nicole is obviously Wynonna, with her stick figure arm connecting to an arm coming from a tinier circle. The little circle also has a stick figure dress and long brown hair. The letters “A” and “L” are written over its head. Next to the small circle is another big circle with the cutest mustache Waverly has ever seen. “DK” is written above its head.

Ariel’s interpretation of herself is a purple circle in the middle of Waverly and Nicole with red lines for hair and a yellow stick dress.

Next to Ariel, there is a blue blob with tinier arms than she gave her own stick figure. The blob has a yellow line sticking out of its head, and one of its tiny hands is holding Ariel’s. On top of the blob, the letters  “BRO” are written out. Waverly knows exactly who this is.

Just like it had when Mrs. Lovejoy gave her the picture, Waverly feels her stomach do a nervous flip.

Waverly takes out her phone from her purse, and scrolls through Instagram mindlessly for a few minutes. She can’t shake the nauseous feeling from her stomach. The door to the restroom flies open, and Waverly can see a familiar pair of snow boots.

“Baby? Are you alright in there? You left about fifteen minutes ago, and I got worried.”

Waverly flushes the toilet and opens the stall.

“Yup. All is great.” She puts her phone back in her purse, and haphazardly tucks the drawing under her armpit as she turns on the faucet to wash her hands. When she turns around, Nicole is standing right _there_ with a look of concern on her face.

“Baby.” Nicole takes a few steps forward toward the counter and wraps her arms around her girlfriend’s waist. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Waverly’s moon eyes close, and tears fall out as she reaches up to touch the mole under Nicole’s eye. She needs to feel something _real,_ something tangible because as it turns out, their little makeshift family might not be for much longer.

“I didn’t want to tell you, sweetie pie.” Nicole leans forward and wipes the tears from Waverly’s eyes.

“It’s okay, Wave.  I know you want Ariel to walk more independently, and I want that too, but I just thought in the snow-”

Waverly’s trembling as she hands the piece of pink construction paper to her girlfriend.

“Look.”

Nicole studies the drawing and her face lights up.

“Waverly, baby. This is great! She sees us as her _family._ ”

Waverly gives a little shrug. She hadn’t thought about that aspect of Ariel’s drawing.

“And look! Doc has a little Stetson! I think she even got your bangs right!”

Nicole points to a part of the drawing Waverly hadn’t noticed before.

“She even added Calamity Jane. I think we have a future Mary Cassatt on our hands.” Nicole smirks and gives Waverly a dimpled smile she can’t resist.

“Nicole, look who she _drew_.” Waverly takes Nicole’s finger in her hand, and taps on the tiny blob at the bottom of the page.

Nicole’s mouth makes a small “O”

“Is that…Jack?”

Waverly nods and takes Nicole’s hand in hers.

“Mhm, I think so.”

Nicole lifts her hand and stroke’s Waverly’s face with her knuckles.

“Oh, Waverly. Don’t cry, sweetheart. It’s _good_ that she drew her baby brother.”

Waverly puts her arms around Nicole’s neck and leans into her sweater.

“Our baby girl misses her baby brother. What the hell are we supposed to do about that?”

Nicole wraps her arms around Waverly’s torso, and pulls her close, resting her chin on Waverly’s head.

“I think…when we get home, we need to talk to her.”

Waverly sniffles.

“We have no clue where he _is_ Nicole. He could be in a different part of the country.”

“The good thing is is that she still sees him as part of her family, though, Wave. She remembers that he’s important to her.”

“What good is that if we can’t _find_ him? Also, we can’t just take on another kid, Nicole. Maybe they should be together with different foster parents.”

Nicole rocks Waverly back and forth in her arms.

“Baby… Ariel is a perfect fit for our family. She shouldn’t be with anyone else. Have you noticed how she’s learning to trust us? Maybe we can ask the agency and arrange for them to meet up. And maybe…if his foster parents don’t consider adoption…”

Waverly likes it when Nicole holds her like this. She feels calm, and the movement and pressure of Nicole’s body close to hers makes her less jittery. 

“We really are going to have a soccer team of kids running around one day, aren’t we?”

Nicole smirks and kisses Waverly softly as she giggles.

“If you want to, I’m down. As long as I’m with you, I’m a happy girl.”

Waverly grins.

“Good thing we can’t get each other pregnant. We’d have a baby every nine months or so.”

Nicole snorts.

“You do things to me cutie. I feel it in my _body._ ” Now it’s Waverly’s turn to snort.

“I’m sorry Nicole. I didn’t want to upset you on this trip. I know we were both really looking forward to it.”

Nicole presses a kiss to Waverly’s temple.

“We’re a team Waverly. No secrets, okay? If you’re feeling anxious about something, you need to tell me.”

Waverly nods.

“It’s been _stressful_ becoming a parent. I just feel like…I don’t want to break her heart.”

Nicole shakes her head.

“You said that before, baby. You’d never break her heart. In fact, I think you’re doing the opposite, and you’re actually mending her heart back together.”

Waverly grins, and nestles her face into the fabric of Nicole’s sweater.

The bathroom door flies open, and Nicole and Waverly nearly jump apart from one another.

Wynonna runs into a stall, and retches into the toilet. She comes out as if nothing has happened, and puts her hands on her hips.  

“It’s been _twenty_ minutes. You’ve left us with _four_ kids for twenty minutes.”

“You alright there, sis?” Waverly moves toward Wynonna.

“I’m good, baby girl. Must have been something in the water.”

“Wynonna…do you think you could be….?” She puts her hand on her sister’s forehead, which is clammier than before.

Wynonna shakes her head furiously.

“There’s no way in _hell,_ Waves. I have an IUD. Got it right after Alice was-well…you know.”

Waverly nods.

“Maybe you should go home, and get some rest, Wynonna.”

Wynonna shakes her head and runs her mouth under the faucet.

“I’m fine, Waves. I swear. God…what if I _am_ pregnant?”

Waverly takes her sister’s hands in her own.

“You’ve got us, Wynonna. Nothing bad is going to happen, I promise.”

Wynonna gives a small smile.

“Are _you_ feeling better?”

Waverly nods and glances at Nicole.

“I am.”

Wynonna pushes open the bathroom door with her foot.

“C’mon, Doc’s out there alone with bunnies and babies. Let’s go rescue him.”

The rest of the field trip goes well, and Ariel and Alice return to the homestead each with a piglet and pygmy goat plushie in their hands, courtesy of Doc, and the overpriced gift shop.

* * *

 

As soon as they’re home, Wynonna kicks off her boots and grabs the receipt from her purse.

“I can’t believe we just spent twenty-five dollars on a stuffed _goat.”_ Wynonna leans in and whispers to Doc whose face turns red.

“They’re mighty adorable, no?”

“You’d _better_ not be thinking of a way to smuggle a baby goat into this house, Doc. I saw the way you looked at them!”

Alice runs over to hug her father.

“Thank you for our animals, Daddy.”

Doc scoops his daughter up in his arms and spins her around.

“Anything for you, my Alice.”

_Maybe_ thinks Wynonna, _Maybe_ another kid wouldn’t be the end of the world.

 

* * *

 

Waverly and Nicole are upstairs, giving Ariel a bubble bath. Waverly sits on the toilet holding a bath puppet as Nicole sits on the edge of the tub.  

“Y’know Ariel, On the bus today, Mrs. Lovejoy showed me a drawing that you did at school.” Waverly glances over at Nicole.

 “Oh yeah, your Wavy showed it to me too. We love it.”

Ariel’s putting shampoo on her Barbie’s hair.

“My _fammy_ por-trit?”

“It was _beautiful._ ” Waverly nods and makes a silly voice waving the whale puppet in Ariel’s face which makes her giggle.

“Can you remember who you drew?” Nicole picks up a Barbie who fell “overboard” from the floor, and tosses it back in the tub.

Ariel smiles.

“Alice, CoCo, Wavy, NoNo, Doc, Cammity Jae, and…Jack Jack, but he not here. Maybe he with Mommy.”

Waverly’s shaking. 

“We’re not sure where Jack is either, Princess. But…I do know something. Even if he’s not here right now with us, he’s always in your heart.”

Ariel nods.

“I miss him.”

“We know you do, baby bug.” Nicole reaches for Ariel’s hand.

“Don’t miss Mommy. Don’t want to go back.”

Nicole scoops Ariel out of the tub, as Waverly reaches for her Peppa Pig bath towel. They wrap her in the towel and hold her close.

“You don’t have to go back, baby. You’ve got your family right here.”

They’re laying in bed. Nicole’s spooning her girls, her chin resting on Waverly’s head, and Waverly’s chin resting on Ariel’s. A tiny voice pipes up.

“I good? I stay a little longer?”

Nicole reaches her arm over Waverly to stroke their daughter’s cheek with the palm of her hand.

“You’re the _best_ little girl in the whole wide world.”

Waverly places a kiss on Nicole’s hand which is resting on top of their daughter’s freckled cheek. 

“You stay always.”


End file.
